Figuring out Finances: Analyzing Men’s Perspectives on Household Finances

How men view and explain household finances offers needed insight into family dynamics. This provides an understanding about practical strategies men utilize to manage a valued family resource, their perspective on gender and power dynamics within marriage, and how they infuse these perspectives into their purported management of household finances. As such, the following study is guided by two research questions: Who do men perceive as managing their household finances? How do they justify these arrangements? Our analysis of 32 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with heterosexual, married men from a variety of economic and racial backgrounds demonstrates that men perceive an equitable division of labor when it comes to managing household finances. Men account for how their household finances are managed in four distinct ways: default or no desire, a human capital perspective (i.e., experience, interest, and availability), wanting to know family information, and as an ongoing discussion with their spouse. Our data suggest that breadwinning status may shape how men perceive who is managing household finances and how they talk about their finances. Borrowing from relative resources theory and doing gender we illustrate how these accounts are deeply intertwined with men’s perceptions of gender and how power within the marriage should be shared with their spouse. This paper can assist how family scientists, therapists, and counselors understand the tight connection between finances, power, and gender dynamics within family life.